the gravity of the challenges that we face in the broader middle east. >> meanwhile, the obama campaign is out with a new ad, it takes aim at romney's experience at bain capital, spotlighting workers who said they lost their jobs because governor romney was more concerned about short-term profits than creating jobs. >> people need to know what mitt romney did to miriam, indiana, in 1994. >> you don't just come in and take everything everybody's got and destroy a business. i mean, that's what they did. >> when you take away all the good-paying jobs such as we had here at gst steel in kansas city, the middle class is going to become extinct. >> neither obama nor romney have public events scheduled for today, but vice president joe biden and paul ryan were both on the trail. the vice president was in florida this morning, ryan is in new hampshire and is traveling to ohio for an event tonight. we will, of course, have more on all of these stories over the next two hours. in case you have not heard, the countdown is on to colorado. even though both campaigns are playing the lowered expectations gam